


Local Lager

by myamya



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Christmas Time, M/M, Not serious at all, Silly Boys, marnie is only mentioned, she isn't a character, this is very fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27115217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myamya/pseuds/myamya
Summary: "Do you mean to tell me that you're a classically trained jazz vocalist, mate?" There was no way for Raihan to hide his disbelief at the revelation. The mental image of Piers singing anything other than well, punk music just didn't compute in his brain."I know, it surprises me too."-In Wyndon for professional development, Piers and Raihan spend an evening together. Drinks are had, jokes are made and feelings are eventually revealed.
Relationships: Kibana | Raihan/Nezu | Piers
Comments: 16
Kudos: 93





	Local Lager

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this is quite long for a one-shot. Also apologies for any spelling mistakes, this is un-beta'd haha.

Raihan confused people.

But don’t you worry, he was well aware of it. In fact, he _relished_ in it. For him, any attention was good attention (with a few obvious exceptions of course) so he took great delight in how often his name was trending on social media or when he heard people talking about him.

He confused them because there he was, almost seven feet tall and appearning fairly conventionally masculine (in the general public’s eyes) but sometimes he’d wear nail polish. Or sometimes he’d take silly photos wearing glitter on his cheeks or endorse skincare brands which would clog up his feed for weeks. Don’t get him wrong, the reception was usually positive and the Electabuzzfeed articles always praised him, it was just the cognitive dissonance between what the public thought he should be like and what he actually _was_ like that got people talking.

Honestly though, he didn’t do it for the attention, that was just a bonus. He did it because simply put, he wanted to. He thought having coloured nails was fun and sometimes the occasion just called for glitter. He'd always been a giant extravert with little to no shame after all. Plus they were things he enjoyed and he wasn't about to stop doing them just because he was a public figure now.

He glanced down at said fingernails, the orange paint was chipping. He’d only done them yesterday but he’d left the paint back in Hammerlocke assuming that they'd last more than one day, so he couldn’t even fix them. He sighed and took a look out the hotel window to try and see if any sort of store was open. He doubted it though, he’d been to Wyndon a several times over the years and the place seemed to close down fairly early in the evening. Pretty inconvenient if you asked him, _especially_ since it was a tourist hub for trainers and sightseers alike. But then again, he'd never actually been out to the city in the evening, so he could be wrong.

“What are you lookin’ so bummed about?” He looked up at the sudden interruption and found Piers emerging from the bathroom. _Finally_ , he’d been in there showering for at least half an hour leaving Raihan alone and bored. He must have been washing his hair because it was hanging down to his knees, completely swallowing him up and forming a small lake by his feet. He had to laugh though, he looked like a tangrowth.

“Nail polish is chipped,” He frowned. “You didn’t bring any with you, did you?”

“Not in bright orange, no.”

“Damn, why can’t you be more colourful, Piers?” He laughed. “Do you think anywhere is open? I wanna fix it up.”

Piers did his own quick survey out the window and saw exactly what Raihan had — nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip. “Probably not, knowin’ Wyndon, although it is December so you never know," He looked again but the look on his face still said he was coming up empty. "If we get up early we can probably find somewhere before the meeting. I’ll come with ya if ya want, I’m bound to have forgotten something. Always seem to whenever we have these conferences.”

He nodded. “Wanna get coffee too? The hotel stuff isn’t great and I reckon I’ll need something extra strong before tomorrow.”

They weren’t in Wyndon for anything exciting, it was just a bi-annual conference for all the League staff. One in June and then one just before their Christmas break. They’d firstly have a big lengthy meeting to discuss how their gyms were going, expenses, losses and all those boring things, and then move on to two days of professional development and workshops. Their gym trainers only had to come for that part, completely skipping over the meeting. It was the dullest time of his year and if he’d known that being a gym leader included all this sorta stuff, Raihan maybe would have considered a different career path.

The only good thing was that they’d put them all up in Rose of the Rondelands for a few days and treat them all to fancy dinners. He guessed all the budget went towards that because they made them share rooms, hence why Piers was standing in front of him clad in only his pyjama pants. He didn’t mind too much though, he’d been rooming with Piers for at least four of these things so it was just routine at this point.

“Let’s go to the cafe we found last time, y’know the one near the ferris wheel.” Piers had taken a seat at the foot of his bed and was beginning to braid his hair. When Raihan had first seen him do it he’d told him it was to help it dry. _‘Soaks through my back otherwise.’,_ he’d said. It was kind of fascinating and he found himself following Piers’s fingers as they expertly manoeuvred the three sections of hair. Sometimes he’d do this over-under one to keep his fringe out the way, he’d called it a Kalos braid or something. He couldn’t quite remember.

“Sounds good, we can’t tell Leon though. He’ll want to come along too and I don’t want to deal with his energy so early in the morning. I swear that guy is on from the moment he wakes up.”

“I thought you guys were friends,” He’d finished the braid now and was tying the end up with a hair tie from his wrist. He must have looped it around one time too many and the band snapped, flying halfway across the room. Piers watched it for a moment before chuckling, “There you go, now we have to go out in the mornin’ because I’ll need to buy a new one of those.”

“Big F,” He answered and then with an over exaggerated groan, reached down to pick the band up off the carpet. After fumbling with the snapped ends for a little bit, he managed to tie them together. Piers rolled his eyes at the groan but snatched it back gratefully, it would do until tomorrow. “But yeah, we’re great friends, just not first thing in the morning. I don’t know how he’s so chatty so early, it’s too tiring.”

Piers’s chuckle turned into a proper laugh when he said this, prompting a pout from Raihan. “You’re just the same, y’know. Last time we were here you launched into a conversation about the new Pokegram update as soon as I woke up. I don’t mind though; I need that energy otherwise I’ll spend all morning half-asleep. You’re good for me, mate.”

He pushed himself up slightly to grab his phone from the bedside and started typing something out on the screen. Raihan watched, eyes trailing down the braid to where it stopped halfway down his back, leaving behind droplets of water on his skin that glistened under the bright lights of the hotel room. So the thing about Piers was that he was so objectively handsome it almost physically hurt and just like, really cool. You know how some people just had a coolness that couldn't be faked? Yeah, that's how Raihan felt about Piers. Wait, maybe that meant subjectively rather than objectively. Whatever, you know what he meant. Anyway, they were friends but look, if Piers was ever down to be a little more than that, he'd be keen.

He typed one last thing in before locking the screen and chucking it to the other side of the bed with a loud sigh. A raised eyebrow from Raihan prompted the response, "I forgot that I told Marnie I'd buy her a souvenir. We're already going to be so pressed for time tomorrow mornin' so I'm not sure when I'll be able to get one."

"It's only uh..." He glanced down at his own phone screen. "Just after eight. Wanna try our luck now and see if there's anything open? But if not, my nails aren't that important." They both had another quick peer out the window, the city wasn't completely dark yet and there were a few tourists still out and about. It could be worth a shot at least. No harm, no foul and all that.

"Yeah alright then, I'm not tired yet anyway." He stood up and started rifling through the small suitcase at the foot of the bed. He pulled out a pink jumper and yanked it over his head, then doing the same with a pair of jeans (which Raihan turned away for, you know, for privacy). They grabbed the room cardkey and less than a moment later were in the elevator and heading towards downtown Wyndon.

Perhaps they'd been too hasty in assuming that everything would be shut because as they walked down the small street towards the shopping strip, he could see most of the stores lights were still shining brightly. The streetlights were on too, so bright that he almost had to shield his eyes. It was surprisingly warm for a winter's night and he thought that maybe the streetlights were giving the illusion that it wasn't that chilly. Wyndon wasn't a cold city but it was still a surprise this far into December.

He glanced down at Piers who had pulled his arms tightly across his chest to hold in his body heat. His breath was foggy each time he exhaled, reminding Raihan that not everyone ran warm like he did. Without really thinking, he said, "Do you want my jacket? I'm not cold."

Their eyes met briefly before Piers's quickly flicked away, a strange smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. "Nah, it's alright. It's just 'cause my hair is still wet."

They rounded the corner towards the fountain, and it was confirmed that the city was absolutely still awake right now and both of them had been talking out their asses before. In fact, there was even a large tree propped up behind the giant water feature, lit up with various coloured lights that they'd somehow missed on their way through this afternoon. There seemed to be no theme to the decorations, with baubles and tinsel in every colour you could imagine. It was gaudy and reminded him of the tree he used to set up at home as a kid. Carols pumped out of the stores, all out of time with each other and filling the street with one big conglomerate carol that would probably look like a garbodor if given a physical form. It was a lot and Raihan _loved_ it.

There were families gathered around the tree, taking photos of each other and chatting loudly. He couldn't understand a single word besides _'presents'_ being said repeatedly by the kids. As they approached the area, a few groups noticed them and rushed over, asking for a quick picture and signature. Despite having been a gym leader for a good half a decade, it still surprised him when people wanted photos. Like really? Little old him? He'd perfected the art of having to stoop down and still look good, and so he obliged along with Piers who surprisingly didn't hate the interaction.

"I wouldn't be in either of my careers if I hated attention." He shrugged once the commotion had died down and they'd entered the closest open store.

"You're preaching to the choir." He laughed, mind wandering to the hundreds of attention seeking posts he put up on his social media on the daily. Hey what could he say? He just _had_ to try every new dance that was trending online. And challenge videos, don't get him started.

This made Piers chuckle too, presumably also thinking about the very same posts. "Besides, who am I to say no to fans? I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for them. The paparazzi on the other hand, don't get me started."

"Oh I know, I've heard your song."

"Yeah," He said, picking up a small keyring shaped like a ferris wheel to inspect. "I was pretty blatant with my lyrics back then." He decided against the keyring and continued to the next aisle of the store, picking up any and all trinkets that had even a hint of black or pink on them. Halfway around the shop, they found themselves in the cosmetics section and Piers nodded towards the nail polish display up on the wall.

“The Chairman doesn’t like it when I wear polish to these meetings, he always pulls me aside and tells me it’s unprofessional,” Raihan grumbled as he compared the colour on his nails to the one for sale. It was close enough, hopefully no one besides him would notice the difference in shades. “Never says anything to Opal about her talons though. He’s such a hypocrite.”

“He’s probably scared of her,” Piers laughed. It was true though; she was the unofficial boss. “It could be your choice of colour though, you’re not exactly subtle.”

“Hey mate, who’s side are you on?”

“Yours, of course,” His mouth had dropped open, surprised that Raihan would even suggest otherwise. “I think it’s stupid and I’m in full support of anyone dressin’ however they want.” He gestured to his own pink getup and incredibly spiked belt that could cut you if you got too close.

Raihan just _hmm’d_ in response. It was something that irritated him, he hated being told what to do. Even having to wear business-wear tomorrow was bad enough. It just wasn't him, you know? The collared shirt was too stiff, and the pants never fit properly thanks to his ridiculous height. “Everyone’s a bloody hypocrite except us, I swear."

"I know," He answered. "You've just gotta get through it though. It's only for a few days and then we'll be back home." He reached for another shade of orange on the wall -- one Raihan hadn't noticed yet -- and handed it over to him. Raihan however, misjudged the timing and their hands briefly brushed together as he grabbed it from him. It was such a small thing but for some reason, the warmth from Piers's fingers radiated up his arm and filled his chest. They held eye contact for a moment before Piers cleared his throat and started off towards the next aisle.

Raihan followed him slowly, trying to understand why exactly the warmth had turned into butterfrees. He didn't have time to wonder for too long though because something had suddenly caught his eye. It kind of looked like... _no, it couldn't be..._ a shelf of plushies with oversized heads that were all modelled after Leon. There were at least five different variations and then a large display with a special Christmas edition (which was just Leon with red and green cap on).

It took his entire being not to burst into loud laughter so instead snapped a quick photo and sent it to the Champion with the message, _wow how did they know that your head was this big?_ To which he got the response, _ur just mad bc you don't have a plushie_ and then immediately, _i should get a christmas hat like that tho._

After angry reacting Leon's last message, he turned back towards the aisle only to find Piers gone. He could hear a low voice mumbling along to the carol playing through the store's speaker system though and followed it around to the left side of the store. It did indeed belong to Piers and even though he could see him standing there, singing along to a Christmas song, he didn't believe it. Maybe he'd fallen into some alternate dimension when he'd been staring at the plushies, or there was a nearby drowzee using hypnosis or something. Both options seemed more likely than his dimension's Piers singing a carol -- this was the guy who wore spikes as part of his uniform and was the frontman of a _punk band,_ for Arceus's sake.

He sounded good though, in fact, "You sound a lot like that guy." He found himself saying. The look that Piers gave him what at this moment could only be described as a deerling in headlights and he stopped immediately, quickly snatching an item off the wall. With a quick pivot, he started marching towards the cashier who looked a little scared of this thundering presence approaching him.

Raihan followed, confused but not thinking too much about it. He was too busy listening to the carol and trying to figure something out about it. He'd certainly never heard it before, but the voice sounded really familiar. He continued listening while Piers (now red as a Unovan darumaka) tried to pay for the iron-on patch he'd grabbed. Fate was apparently not kind to him tonight though as the item had no barcode and the cashier was having a hard time finding it in their stock database, slowing down the whole process.

And it was then that it hit him. "That's _you?"_

"Took ya long enough," He groaned, _finally_ tapping his card to pay. It beeped in approval and they were out of there, after Raihan paid too of course.

"But why?"

"I had an unusually high water bill one December and needed some extra cash to pay for it. Figured I might as well put my jazz training to use," He shrugged. "It was for a compilation CD of up and coming Galarian singers or something. As you can hear, it still haunts me to this day."

"Do you mean to tell me that you're a classically trained jazz vocalist, mate?" There was no way for Raihan to hide his disbelief at the statement. The mental image of his punk friend singing anything other than well, punk music just didn't compute in his brain.

"I know, it surprises me too," He replied. "Punk is my genre of choice but for some reason the parentals decided to go the jazz route. This is just between us though, yeah? I'll lose my rep if anyone else finds out." Raihan held his finger up to his lips and shot him a wink, the sort of wink that got thousands of stans gushing in the comments of his posts and elicited a grateful smile from Piers.

The air was still surprisingly warm as they stood in the doorway of the storefront, but it could have been their proximity to each other. They were so close that it made Raihan nervous in an odd sort of way. Looking out towards the street to distract himself, the city seemed to have somehow come even more alive. Maybe it was the festive energy or just the fact that he was getting paid to stay in a fancy hotel, but Raihan -- despite the confusing anxiousness -- felt the best he had in a while. He'd never been great at hiding even the slightest hint of emotion and he knew this, so he lifted his chin up in hopes that his smile wouldn't be too obvious.

Not that he had any issues with smiling, but he just wasn't sure if Piers was feeling the same way. It would be downright embarrassing if he didn't. You know, he could blame the Christmas spirit and Rose of the Rondelands all he wanted, but the truth of the matter was that it was hanging out with Piers that was putting him in such a good mood. Arceus, how old was he? Fifteen?

"So, I'm thinking," Piers's voice cut through his daydreaming, his eyes fixed on a small building across the street. Couples were seated on little tables outside, drinks in hands and basking in the warmth of the large outdoor heaters. "It would be a shame to uh..."

"Yeah, did you want to go get...?"

"Sure, I can see a pub over there." Their arrival went fairly unnoticed with only a few patrons waving as they sauntered around and found an empty table inside. Piers told him to hold the seats while he went and ordered, asking what Raihan wanted to drink. He protested that he could buy his own but Piers just waved it off, saying it was his shout as he wandered off towards the busy bartender.

Raihan watched him as he moved up the line, having whipped out his phone to both pass the time and hide his face to avoid more photos. His hair was dry now and had almost doubled in size, giving him an appearance not unlike an obstagoon. It was almost funny; Piers was not a small guy so it was a bloody lot of hair. For a moment wondered what it would be like to touch it, would it be soft? It definitely looked it. There was certainly also enough of it that he could probably use it as a pillow...not that he would, but he _could._

He had to stop thinking like this though, he wasn't sure Piers's feelings towards him and travelling further down this route could result in misunderstandings and awkwardness (been there, done that). Also, why couldn't he think about normal things like what it would be like if they kissed instead of wanting to touch his hair? But then _that_ thought made his cheeks heat up and he was thankful for the dim lighting. Arceus, he was an idiot! Here he was, a twenty eight year old man but feeling like he was a teenage boy with a crush for the first time again.

He wasn't sure what had happened over the past hour that was making him feel this way. While he'd spent lots of time with Piers at previous work events (and had admittedly always found him fit), he'd never gotten butterfrees just from looking at him before. He made a mental list of the different possibilities for this turn of events but the only option that made any sense was the normalcy of their evening. Going out and looking for gifts for loved ones at Christmas time was such a regular thing to do but it kind of gave him a glimpse of a potential future. Yep, he was well and truly an adult now if domesticity was exciting him. Oh, but whatever, no point in dwelling on it.

"Here," Piers said as he placed their pints down on the table. "It's some local lager or something. Dunno, just asked what was most popular and this is what he poured."

"Are you sure you don't want the quid for it?"

"Nah, you're alright," He took a swig from the glass, downing almost half of it in one go. This only further endeared him to poor Raihan who was extremely impressed that he could do it without yacking up all over the table. "How are ya feelin' about tomorrow? You were pretty reluctant about it earlier."

"Still don't wanna go," He replied taking a much smaller sip himself. "The meetings drag on and on and they're so boring."

Piers nodded in agreement. "At least we'll have each other. Misery loves company and all that."

"That's what I'm counting on, mate," He smiled down into his beer. "But let's stop talking about it, it'll kill the mood," He paused for a moment, trying to come up with a new topic of conversation that was as far away from work meetings as possible. Eventually he came up with, "What are your plans when you get back home? We break for the holidays pretty much straight away."

He groaned and flung his head back to stare at the ceiling. "Ugh, I don't wanna think about it. But guess I'll catch up on my gift shopping, still gotta buy for Marnie and the bandmates. It's hard 'cause she's been to every shop in Spikemuth already."

"You should come up to Hammerlocke and I'll keep you company. I'm surprisingly good at buying gifts, believe it or not." It wasn't a lie and in fact, he could probably go as far as saying it was something he prided himself on. He was a Christmas person you see, and that coupled with the amount of time he spent looking at random things on his phone meant he always managed to find the perfect gifts. Hey, you had to be proud of some of your skills, right?

"Please, I need all the help I can get," He took another ridiculously large swig, finishing the glass and then said, "Next Saturday? I can come up early in the mornin' so we can we beat the last minute shoppers. Though technically I'm one of 'em too."

"It's a date."

Oh. Oh shit. The words had just slipped out. The drink must have loosened his tongue or something. _Great._ But maybe he was overreacting, and Piers had just heard it as confirmation or something. After all, he didn't know he had this inner turmoil going on.

But no, it seems the phrasing had not gone unnoticed by Piers whose face seemed to be tinged once again like a darumaka even in the non-existent lighting.

"Hey look," He'd started fiddling with the cuff on his wrist now that he didn't have a drink to focus on anymore. Raihan had to stop himself for sighing out loud, not many good sentences started with _'look'._ "I've enjoyed hangin' out with ya tonight."

He forced a grin out despite his stomach seizing up. He was about to get his ass handed to him, metaphorically speaking "Yeah, same. You're good fun."

"And uh, this is going to be awkward if it's not the case since we have to share a room for the next few nights, but I need to ask," He was gripping the metal band to tightly now that Raihan was worried it might snap. "And it's probably the beer talkin', but...is there something between us?"

It was at that moment that the room went silent and all Raihan could focus on was Piers looking earnestly up at him. Well, the venue continued as normal but to him there was absolutely no other sound in the city right now. Did Piers actually...? "You're feeling it too?"

"Been feelin' it since you offered your jacket."

Oh. Now that he thought about it, he probably should have realised that that was a typical way to make a move. Seems he was as clueless as a teenage boy too.

"But I uh..." He was still hesitant but the grip had loosened. "I do like ya and I wouldn't mind if we wanted to start seeing each other."

Look, he couldn't believe it. He was definitely convinced there was a drowzee nearby now, there was no way this was reality. Piers and _him?_ How did he get so lucky? He'd obviously done something right recently. And hey, there was a good sentence that had started with 'look'.

"Cool because I wouldn't mind it either," He was trying to play it cool but he was having a hard time stopping the massive grin from creeping out and splitting his face in half. Like a real grin this time, not a forced one. "Did you still want to go out for coffee tomorrow morning? Could actually be a proper date instead of whatever this is." He gestured to the empty glasses and Piers laughed.

"That'd be fun I reckon. Then the shopping next week can be the second one."

It was still surprisingly warm as they walked back to the hotel, Raihan's arm slung around Piers's shoulder as he listed off all the good places to go gift shopping in Hammerlocke. He'd shrugged his jacket off and given it to Piers who had straight out asked for it this time, and yet he was still warm. He didn't give it too much thought at the time, but in hindsight it probably wasn't because of the weather anymore.


End file.
